Karl Goesswald

Karl Gößwald (born January 26, 1907 in Würzburg ; † April 2, 1996 there ) was a German zoologist and university professor. The entomologist achieved international fame primarily for his research on ants . He propagated the use of forest ants in order to increase the resistance of forest biocenoses to forest-damaging insects in a biological-ecological way . Gößwald founded the Institute for Applied Zoology at the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg and published the specialist journal Forest Hygiene .

Live and act

Born and raised in Würzburg, Karl Gößwald studied natural sciences and medicine , but then specialized in zoology. In 1931 he was awarded the full university prize on the ant fauna of the central Main area for a work on the ant fauna of the central Main area that was awarded by the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Würzburg as a Dr. phil. PhD. The young zoologist had thus proven himself to be a first-rate myrmecologist and entomologist. The ecologically oriented processing of a group of animals carried out in his work is still considered to be trend-setting and should also be decisive for the later comprehensive processing of the genus Formica by Gößwald and his school. After completing his doctorate, Gößwald went on a scholarship to the forest zoologist Karl Escherich in Munich in 1932 and came into contact with the topics of forest and forest protection from the nestor of applied entomology in Germany , which was of crucial importance for his further scientific development.

After a short time at the State Teaching and Research Institute for Fruit Growing and Viticulture in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse , Gößwald joined the Reich Biological Institute for Agriculture and Forestry in Berlin-Dahlem in 1935 . In the laboratory of Albrecht Hase (1882–1962), investigations were carried out on the development of moth protection methods , for material testing for termite resistance , for the targeted control of harmful ants with poisonous baits , for the use of insect pathogenic fungi of the genus Beauveria , especially research series on hill-building forest ants of the genus Formica. In 1941 Gößwald was appointed head of a department for termite and ants research set up specifically for his area of ​​work. In 1942 he moved to the Prussian Research Institute for Forest Management in Eberswalde , where he was appointed head of department in 1944. Since the research institute also worked with the Bavarian forest authorities and had set up a branch in Würzburg, Gößwald returned to the University of Würzburg after the Second World War , where he qualified as a professor there in 1947 in the subject of zoology and founded the Institute for Applied Zoology, which he was appointed to chair in 1950 has been. At the Faculty of Natural Sciences he also held the professorship for applied zoology, initially from March 1, 1948 as a scheduled associate professor for zoology (he lived in Kleinrinderfeld at the time ) at the Zoological Institute (then at Röntgenring 10) and from 1966 as a full professor .

Gößwald directed his own research work and that of his institute primarily to the wood ants , which yielded groundbreaking insights into the systematics, behavior and ecology of these insects. The training at his institute gave his employees and students a balanced knowledge of field biology and modern laboratory methods. Gößwald became one of the founders of a modern applied-zoological, above all applied-entomological direction within the natural sciences . Numerous other researchers and institutes at home and abroad soon followed the direction given. Because Gößwald was not only a member of the German Society for General and Applied Entomology (DGaaE), but also very much promoted international cooperation in research into social insects. He was one of the co-founders of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI) and headed its German-speaking section from its foundation until he was elected President of IUSSI in 1965. The close and varied scientific ties between his working group and researchers at home and abroad have created an environment from which a number of industrial biologists in leading positions and numerous university lecturers have emerged.

But Gößwald also had a very strong effect on practice. The award-winning scientist not only brought the importance of the red wood ant for the forest ecosystem and its protection closer to forestry people , but also with popular scientific presentations such as the cosmos ribbon Our ants (1954/55), as an attachment of the Institute for Film and Image in Science and Teaching (1954) and, through leaflets, was also known to broad circles of the population, which ultimately triggered a veritable ant protection movement.

Gößwald's work contributed significantly to the protection of the wood ants .

This was supported by the "Würzburg Ant Conservation Center", founded and directed by Gößwald at the University of Würzburg - the first of its kind in the world - where queens were bred on a large scale with the aim of reintroducing the red wood ant. In addition, she worked out practical measures for the protection, reproduction and resettlement of wood ants. To promote these activities, ant conservationists founded the registered association “Ameisenschutzwarte Würzburg e. V. “into life. Gößwald was elected first chairman. From this sponsoring association, further ant protection stations in the federal states emerged. In several stages, the German Ant Protection Center (DASW) was founded as an umbrella organization for a number of regional associations of the same name. In addition to foresters, farmers and beekeepers , numerous lay people, including many young people, were enthusiastic about the idea of ​​biological-ecological forest protection with its concrete practical implementation options. The worldwide use of wood ants in the course of forest protection is also largely due to Gößwald. In 1982 Gößwald also drew up the first “ Red List ” of formicides for Bavaria.

Gößwald always took a holistic view of the forest ecosystem, which led to general "forest hygiene". During the Second World War, a working group and a news paper were set up to promote them. Gößwald took up these efforts again and in 1954 founded the quarterly magazine Waldhygiene , which he also published. The trade journal became particularly important for forestry . Not least because of Gößwald, there was a gradual departure from the pure control of harmful forest insects that had prevailed until then. He defined forest hygiene as the interplay of all natural individual factors, which together guarantee the maintenance of a healthy forest. Therefore, the medical principle “prevention is better than cure” also applies to the forest ecosystem. Gößwald thus took a position in line with Alfred Möller's organism idea and thus also made remarkable contributions to forest-philosophical questions. In a total of several hundred scientific publications, Gößwald has clarified numerous forest zoological, above all entomological and forest hygiene issues. With his findings he also worked on forest entomologists such as Gustav Wellenstein , Erwin Schimitschek , Fritz Schwerdtfeger and Wolfgang Schwenke .

In retirement, Gößwald summarized the knowledge he had gained over decades in the organization and life of the ants (1985) and in the two-volume standard work Die Waldameise (1989/90), which can be considered his main work.

Gößwald has been honored several times for his scientific achievements, including the award of the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class .

Since 1927 Gößwald was a committed member of the Catholic student association KDSt.V. Gothia Würzburg in the CV .

Karl Gößwald died on April 2, 1996 in Würzburg. In 1990 he had already given all of his research and working documents as well as equipment from the former “Würzburg ant protection station” to the Bavarian ant protection station. The “Ameisenschutzverein Hirschberg e. V. "built the Bavarian Information Center for Ant Science" Prof. Dr. Karl Gößwald ”in Nabburg .

Fonts (selection)

• Ecological studies on the ant fauna of the central Maing area , dissertation 1931, printed in 1932
• The red wood ant in the service of forest hygiene. Forestry importance, use, way of life, breeding, reproduction and protection , Lüneburg 1951
• Our ants , 2 volumes, Stuttgart 1954/55
• Forest ant trial areas in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Part 1: Kleve and Bielefeld (Minden) , Würzburg 1973
• Organization and life of the ants , Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-8047-0691-6
• The wood ant
  • Volume 1: Biological basics, ecology and behavior , Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-89104-475-5
  • Volume 2: The wood ant in the forest ecosystem, its use and its care , Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89104-476-3

literature

• Rolf Hennig : On the 80th birthday of Prof. Dr. Karl Gößwald , in Der Forst- und Holzwirt , volume 42, issue 1/1987, p. 15
• WJ Kloft: On the death of Professor Dr. Karl Gößwald (01/26/1907 - 04/02/1996) , in: German Society for General and Applied Entomology e. V. , Volume 10, Issue 3 / October 1996, ISSN  0931-4873 , pp. 94-95
• Dieter Bretz: On the 100th birthday of Prof. Dr. Karl Gößwald , in: Ameisenschutz aktuell , issue 1/2007, p. 15

Web links

• Literature by and about Karl Gößwald in the catalog of the German National Library
• Web presence of the German Ant Protection Service (DASW) eV (Association of the regional associations of the DASW)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg: Lecture directory for the summer semester of 1948. University printing house H. Stürtz, Würzburg 1948, pp. 15 and 17.